Selestium Astrology is under active development, and was only begun in September 2025 (first commit to the repository was on 5 September 2025, 15:47:20 CDT). As such, it has a long way to go to match the features of other, much more established programs.

Nevertheless, Selestium Astrology was built from the ground up to:

• Work cross-platform (Windows, Linux, MacOS)
• Support custom zodiacs, specifically 13-sign constellational astrology
• Be accessible to screen-readers and other assistive devices
• Open-source with open, human-readable formats

These features alone make it stand out in comparison to other programs currently available.

The following is the current feature set for the program.

User Interface

• Most astrology software claims to be “easy-to-use”. But let’s face it: professional-level astrology is, by its nature, complicated, with dozens if not hundreds of parameters to be considered when analyzing a chart. As a result, some complexity is to be expected. With Selestium Astrology, we aim to make the easy things easy, and the difficult things possible and accessible. Basic functions are available quickly and directly. Complicated, more advanced options may require a few more clicks, but do not immediately clutter the interface. Nevertheless, everything is customizable, allowing you to create the interface and charts that work for you, by default.
• Most desktop astrology software is either incompatible with contemporary user-interface guidelines, or is attempting to bring flashy, mobile-centered design to the desktop. Selestium Astrology takes a middle road. I use industry-standard user-interface libraries that allow the app to have a native look-and-feel across Windows, Linux, and MacOS. As a result, the programs acts and functions like any other desktop app you may be using.
• As a result of using standard user-interface libraries, I am also able to make the software accessible to screen readers. Every user interface element has additional information available for screen readers to help the people who use those assistive devices use as much of Selestium Astrology as possible. (I am not an assistive device user, and while I can test these features using screen readers like Jaws or NVDA, I am definitely open to suggestions for improvement from people who use screen readers everyday.)

Chart Database

• Any number of individual databases can be created for specific purposes. Each database can have additional information attached to it, such as extended name, author, and description
• Databases are simply file folders on your system, allowing for easy movement and reshuffling outside of the program as needed.
• Individual charts in the databases are stored as individual files, again allowing for easy movement outside of the program as needed. No worries about not knowing whether your charts are available if you need to move to another software package! No proprietary formats here!
• Chart files are stored in a compact, quasi-human-readable format (JSON, for the technically inclined). The chart format is documented and translators to other formats (such as Quick*Chart) are available. Again, the chart format is open and non-proprietary.

Zodiacs

• Tropical
• Sidereal, with all ayanamshas supported by the Swiss Ephemeris
• Custom zodiacs
  • Unique among all other astrology programs (that I know of), custom zodiacs of any number of divisions (up to 20) can be defined. The size of each of the zodiac “sectors” (signs) can be defined arbitrarily. Any glyph of contemporary constellations (near the ecliptic) can be assigned to a zodiac sector.
  • The offset of the custom zodiac from the tropical zodiac can be defined to any arbitrary value.
  • Additionally, you can set the epoch for the offset to whatever you would like. The “epoch” is the date for which the offset is valid, and thus calculations take this into account when projecting into the future or the past. An offset without an epoch is meaningless, as we don’t know the precise moment when that offset is correct. As far as I know no other desktop or online astrological software package allow for this level of granularity. (Selestium Astrology exposes the capabilities of the Swiss Ephemeris to attach an epoch to an offset.)
  • Selestium Astrology comes with standard definitions for 13-sign constellational astrology.
  • Future releases will allow for defining non-contiguous zodiacs, allowing one to see how zodiacs might have looked prior to the standardization of the 12-sign, continuous and contiguous zodiac.
  • Selestium Astrology is built from the ground-up to support custom zodiacs. If a custom zodiac is in use, all calculations show the position of an object within that custom zodiac. So, for example, if you set a custom zodiac for a chart, then all of the tables and reports for that chart give positions in the custom zodiac. If a custom zodiac is set as the default zodiac, then ephemerides, daily object positions, etc, will give positions in the custom zodiac.

Sidereal Ayanamshas

• Selestium Astrology supports all of the sidereal ayanamshas offered by the Swiss Ephemeris. These are:
  • Fagan/Bradley
  • Lahiri
  • De Luce
  • Raman
  • Usha/Shashi
  • Krishnamurti
  • Djwhal Khul
  • Yukteshwar
  • J.N. Bhasin
  • Babylonian/Kugler 1
  • Babylonian/Kugler 2
  • Babylonian/Kugler 3
  • Babylonian/Huber
  • Babylonian/Eta Piscium
  • Babylonian/Aldebaran = 15 Tau
  • Hipparchos
  • Sassanian
  • Galact. Center = 0 Sag
  • J2000
  • J1900
  • B1950
  • Suryasiddhanta
  • Suryasiddhanta, mean Sun
  • Aryabhata
  • Aryabhata, mean Sun
  • SS Revati
  • SS Citra
  • True Citra
  • True Revati
  • True Pushya (PVRN Rao)
  • Galactic Center (Gil Brand)
  • Galactic Equator (IAU1958)
  • Galactic Equator
  • Galactic Equator mid-Mula
  • Skydram (Mardyks)
  • True Mula (Chandra Hari)
  • Dhruva/Gal.Center/Mula (Wilhelm)
  • Aryabhata 522
  • Babylonian/Britton
  • Vedic/Sheoran
  • Cochrane (Gal.Center = 0 Cap)
  • Galactic Equator (Fiorenza)
  • Vettius Valens
  • Lahiri 1940
  • Lahiri VP285
  • Krishnamurti-Senthilathiban
  • Lahiri ICRC

Location and timezone searches

• Selestium Astrology uses the open-source Geonames (https://www.geonames.org/) database. I use an offline, cached version of the database preventing the need to any online access to look up most locations in the world.
• Searches can be filtered by minimum city size.
• Timezones are calculated using the open-source historical Olson timezone database (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tz_database). Again, this database works offline and does not require internet access.
• If a location is not found then the city and country name, latitude and longitude, and timezone can be set manually.
• If desired, a separate UTC offset can be set manually for each location. TODO not implemented yet

Objects

• Bodies: all of the bodies supported by the Swiss Ephemeris, including standard planets and asteroids, as well as hypothetical objects.
• Angles: all of the angles supported by the Swiss Ephemeris, including Asc, Mc, and RAMC. Dsc and Ic are calculated from the Asc and Mc, respectively.
• Fixed Stars: 1109 fixed stars and other galactic bodies (galactic center, etc) available. Alternative names for many stars. Simple search interface to quickly find the desired star.
• Asteroids: over 1000 asteroids, dwarf planets, and trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) including all of the standard and “esoteric” ones used in modern astrology. Additional asteroids related to the interests of the author. Simple search interface to quickly find the desired asteroids.
• Lots: the standard Hermetic lots, as well as a few variables of them. A future update will include many more lots, as well as user-defined ones.
• Each type of object can easily have the selected objects saved to a specific configuration file, which can then be used to dynamically load those objects in other places within the program (the main chart screen, new and edited charts, graphics and textual ephemeris, etc).

Houses

• All houses supposed by the Swiss Ephemeris are available, such as Whole, Equal (Asc), Placidus, Porphyry, etc.
• The complete list is:
  • Whole sign
  • Equal (cusp 1 is Ascendant)
  • Placidus
  • Koch
  • Porphyrius
  • Regiomontanus
  • Campanus
  • Equal
  • Alcabitus
  • APC houses
  • Axial rotation system / Meridian system / Zariel
  • Azimuthal or horizontal system
  • ‘Carter Poli-Equatorial"’,
  • Equal MC (cusp 10 is MC)
  • Equal/1=Aries
  • Gauquelin sector
  • Sunshine (Makransky, solution Treindl)
  • Sunshine (Makransky, solution Makransky)
  • Krusinski-Pisa-Goelzer
  • Morinus
  • Polich/Page (“topocentric” system),
  • Pullen SD (sinusoidal delta) – ex Neo-Porphyry
  • Pullen SR (sinusoidal ratio)
  • Sripati
  • Vehlow equal (Asc. in middle of house 1)
• NB: Some of the more complicated house systems, such as Gauquelin sectors, have not been extensively tested and may not work properly.

Aspects:

• 24 different kinds of aspects with different orbs for luminaries and other objects, as well as for natal and transit aspects.
• Parallel and contraparallels aspects are available.
• Aspects are shown as either applying or separating.
• Aspects can be done just between bodies or, with configuration options, also to angles, fixed stars, and asteroids.
• Aspect lines in the graph can be scaled by the size of the orb (smaller orb leading to thicker lines).
• Configurations are also available for marking an aspect as exact or out-of-bounds in declination.

Rings

• Unique “ecliptic ring” that surrounds your chart, showing the position of major bodies above and below the ecliptic. When animating a chart dynamically, watch as you can see the planets do their dance forward and backward, above and below the ecliptic. Mercury is especially intriguing to watch!
• Unique “star ring” that can additionally surround your chart, showing the ecliptic longitude and latitude of the available fixed stars. The selection of these stars can be done based on stellar magnitude. Tooltips for each star provide information about the name, the nomenclature name, the constellation, and ecliptic latitude and longitude.
  • You can restrict the stars to only those within currently selected zodiacal constellations.
  • Stars can be shown only if they are above a certain magnitude.
  • Stars can be “stretched” above and below the ecliptic by any amount.

Temporal Dynamics

• Dynamics of the chart are available front-and-center from the main screen. Dynamics can be moved forward or backward by any combination of years, months, days, hours, and minutes.
• Dynamics can be moved forward and backward in an animation over a number of different time steps
• For uniwheels, if you find an interesting configuration of objects through dynamic temporal movement, you can create a new chart from those dynamics.
• All wheels in multiwheels can be be moved dynamically independently of each other. If there is a specific chart calculation for a particular wheel (i.e., for a progressed chart), the dynamics are responsive to that chart calculation. (For example, if you advance a biwheel of a radix and a progressed chart by a day, the progressed chart does not move forward by a full day, but rather by the results of moving the progression calculation forward by a day.) This allows you to easily explore progressed lunations and other transits with respect to a natal chart.

Objects Dynamics

• Like the temporal dynamics, you can easily load any kind of object set from the main screen of the program. Want to see the chart with your standard objects but with the temporary addition of a few fixed stars? Just load the config file with those stars (which you can define from the preferences window). Want to see your normal objects, but with another set of objects on the outside of the chart? Just load an object config file as a set of secondary objects.
• If you like the new set of dynamically added objects, you can apply those objects to the file so that you will always have them with your chart in the future.
• If, at any point, you want to revert to the objects originally saved with the chart, you can easily “reset” the chart to normal.

Calculations

• Progressions, including secondary and TODO solar arc progressions. Progressions can be relocated.
• Solar, lunar, and planetary returns through Pluto (and including Chiron). (Precession corrected returns coming in future version.) Return charts can be relocated.

Prediction

• Eclipses, for both solar and lunar as well as various kinds of eclipses. Search is enabled for all kinds of eclipses or for only specific types. Charts can be cast for specific eclipse dates and times.
• Moon phases, for all 8 standard phase angles. Search is enabled for all angles at once or only a specific angle. Charts can be cast for specific moon phases.
• Heliacal rising/setting + morning first/evening last. Enabled for all the traditional planets (minus the sun of course), as well as for Sirius. Other bodies forthcoming. Charts can be cast for specific event types.
  • NB: This feature should be considered experimental. The results have not been extensively compared to other sources. As well, calculations of heliacal phenomena are subject to a number of variables and can differ by a number of days from one algorithm to another; see, for example, this discussion on the Swiss Ephemeris mailing list.
• Ingresses of an object into a sign. This search is responsive to the zodiac that is set as the default (tropical, sidereal, constellational sidereal). Finally you can search for your ingresses into Ophiuchus! A chart can be cast for the desired ingress date and time.
• Rise/set/meridian/anti-meridian times. Choose a particular date and caculate the rising, upper meridian transit, setting, and lower meridian transit times for the bodies that are currently set as the default.

Tables

• Tables of all chart calculations are available. These include:
  • A full speculum for a given chart
  • A full speculum for the current date, time, and location
  • Table of elements, qualities, house angularity, sectors, etc
  • Profections table
  • Antiscia and contraantiscia table
• Table calculations are responsive either to the zodiac defaults in use, or the default zodiac set in the preferences
• Any table can be copied and pasted into other programs (such as a word processor or spreadsheet), or exported as a CSV file.

Reports

• Various reports can be generated including:
  • A list of aspects and their angles, responsive to the chart at hand
  • A complete report of all of the relevant tables and lists for a chart.
• All reports can be copied and pasted into another program (such as a word processor) or exported in an open format such as ODT.

Ephemeris

• Midnight and noon ephemeris tables can easily be generated. You can create tables for ecliptic longitude, ecliptic latitude, ecliptic longitude speed, and declination. The table can be for any duration desired. Like all tables in the program, it can be easily copied or exported.
• There is also the support for a graphic ephemeris. You can define this for any duration you like, but a year looks the best. The same types of calculations as in the table ephemeris are available.
• For both types of ephemerides, you can load in specific sets of bodies based on pre-defined configurations.
• For the graphic ephemeris, objects such as fixed stars or asteroids are also drawn if they are set as default objects in the preferences.

Graphs

• An ecliptic graph can be drawn that shows the ecliptic longitude and latitude of an object. This is good to show in a 2D way what the ecliptic ring shows as a ring around the chart.
• A declination graph can be drawn that shows the declination plotted against ecliptic longitude. If parallel or contraparallel aspects are enabled in the preferences, these aspects are shown on the graph as well.
• All graphs are responsive to whatever primary objects are selected in the cart.
• All graphs are responsive to whatever zodiac is in use for a particular chart.
• All graphs can be exported as an image or SVG.

Multiwheels

• Biwheels are currently supported. Triwheels will come in the next version.
• Biwheels can be calculated for progressions, transits, and relocations to a radix chart.
• Biwheels calculate an aspect grid, with the radix on the vertical and the outer wheel on the horizontal.

Synastry

• Synastry charts can be calculated for any open uniwheel chart in the session. This means that the normal synastry chart (between two natal charts) can be calculated, but also a natal to a return synastry chart can be calculated as well.
• Synastry charts also calculate an aspect grid, with the first chart (inner wheel) on the vertical and the second chart (outer wheel) on the horizontal.

Dials

• A thirty-degree dial can be shown either on the chart itself, or as a separate window that is response to whatever chart is selected. NB: the thirty-degree dial is not-defined for custom zodiacs, and thus is not generated for those zodiacs.
• A declination dial can be shown either on the chart itself, or as a separate window that is response to whatever chart is selected.

Decans and Terms

• Three types of decans are available (Egyptian traditional, Egyptian modern, and Chaldean)
• Four types of terms are available (Egyptian, Chaldean, Ptolemean (Lily) and Ptolemean (Houlding)
• In both the decans and the terms the definitions come from Astrodienst (https://www.astro.com/faq/fq_fh_tradition_e.htm).

Design

• Colors can easily be set for almost any glyph in the program.
• Aspect colors can be configured as desired.
• The background colors for zodiac sectors and hours sectors can easily be changed.

Program

• Extensive logs can be saved for the program, allowing for easy debugging
• All configuration files are saved within the default account Documents folder.

Future Features

As Selestium Astrology is rather new, a number of major features are not available. Nevertheless, these are planned for future versions. This is the current list of features, ordered in importance:

• Transit search and graph
• Time-lord techniques such as zodiacal releasing
• Ingresses at a particular degree (although ingresses to a sign are currently implemented)
• Chart designer application
• Primary directions
• Dignities tables
• Navigatable 3D celestial sphere
• Fixed star parans
• Almutens
• Firdaria
• Specific electional and horary support
• Astrologer’s clock
• Corrections for polar regions (calculations in the polar regions are not currently guaranteed to be correct, due to a number of the problems described here: https://www.astro.com/astrology/in_polar_asc_e.htm).
• Midpoints
• 90-degree dial
• Advanced harmonics